Blog Topic: Flagpole Premieres

Vibrant and volatile Athens-based psych-rock supergroup Dark Meat burned brightly and toured hard for several years in the late aughts before its players scattered and the band called it quits. But recently, a majority of members found themselves back in Athens for the wedding of two of their own, and decided to lay down one last jam.

Vibrant and volatile Athens-based psych-rock supergroup Dark Meat burned brightly and toured hard for several years in the late aughts before its players scattered and the band called it quits. But recently, a majority of members found themselves back in Athens for the wedding of two of their own, and decided to lay down one last jam.

This Is the Life, the debut album by local psych-pop outfit Blue Blood, has been a long time in the making. After several delays, the record is finally set to hit stores tomorrow, Tuesday, Apr. 28 via Atlanta label This Is American Music.

For a taste of what to expect from This Is the Life, check out an exclusive stream of one of the album's standout tracks, the airy, anthemic "Money to Lose":

Get in on the ground floor with Boy, a brand new Athens-based punk duo featuring guitarist/bassist/vocalist Dionnet Bhatti (Nurture) and drummer Scott Chalfant (Waitress).

The band's first single, "Art Donut," which Flagpole is happy to premiere today, is a lean, aggressive slice of noise-rock that should please fans of similar slash-and-burn groups like Unwound and Pissed Jeans.

Athens/Atlanta dream-pop trio Fake Flowers (full disclosure: Andy Barton, the band's drummer, is an occasional Flagpole contributor) have tooled around the scene for some time, releasing the five-song Opaque Pop EP last summer, a slick set of jangly, melodic tunes that referenced Kevin Shields, Teenage Fanclub and The Feelies in equal measure.

New Athens/Atlanta-based rock trio Slow Parade features members of local moodsmiths Cicada Rhythm and Grand Vapids, and the music on the group's upcoming debut album, Big Plans, feels at times like a cross between the former's sepia-toned folk and the latter's slowcore shuffle.

But the kicker comes in the form of guitarist Matthew Pendrick, a former street busker and frontman of roots rockers Midnight Revival, whose insistent, twangy yowl anchors the band's free-floating instrumentation.

Today Flagpole is pleased to premiere the first single from Big Plans, set for release this spring.

Songwriter Brad DeMatteo, who writes and records lovely minimalist pop tunes as Cult Fluorescent, is in the midst of a move from Massachusetts to the Classic City. "I'm basically moving to Athens for a change of scenery," he tells Flagpole. "It might sound too simple, but that's the truth. I want to put myself and my music in a new environment."

To help welcome DeMatteo to town, we're pleased to premiere a brand new video for "Fiel'd," the airy last track from Cult Fluorescent's recent full-length, I Had No Patience: No Patience.

Stream the video, directed by Michael Bucuzzo of experimental film collective SurreaLux, below:

Eccentric and prolific local rock group Tunabunny is reportedly prepping yet another new LP, titled PCP Presents Alice in Wonderland Jr., the follow-up to March's weird and lovely Kingdom Technology. But while they're at it, they're still churning out visual accompaniments to tracks from the last release.

Today, we're happy to premiere one such project, the video for Kingdom Technology's ethereal opening track, "Airless Spaces." The clip, which features a first-person journey through a strip mall, is as formless and yet arresting as the band's music.

This summer, they released a lovely clip for I Am More Than This' "Lost," and today Flagpole is happy to premiere the comparatively creepy video (Halloween, y'all!) for that record's closer, "Mermaid (Sunlight)".

Though it has played steadily around town for the last couple years and gained a respectable local fanbase in the process, indie-pop trio Scooterbabe has but one EP to its name, a self-titled, five-track effort released last November.

Now, the band is set to drop the follow-up, again in EP form. The new one is titledscooterbabe2@gmail.com (yes, that is the name of the damn thing) and is out Oct. 28 digitally and in the near future on cassette via Pizza Tomb.

The four-song record finds the band honing the C86-inspired sound it has put forth since the beginning. For fans of noisy, navel-gazing jangle-pop, it's a must-listen. Flagpole's Gordon Lamb is blunt in his assessment: "No one in Athens has played well-crafted, distortion-free pop of this type and caliber in a very long time."